Sam Jones (Confederate Army officer)
|died = |image= |caption= |nickname= |placeofbirth= Powhatan County, Virginia |placeofdeath= Bedford Springs, Virginia |placeofburial= Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond, Virginia |placeofburial_label= Place of burial |allegiance= United States of America Confederate States of America |branch= Confederate States Army |serviceyears= 1861–65 |rank= major general |unit= |commands= Department of Florida and South Georgia |battles= American Civil War |awards= |relations= |laterwork= }} Samuel Jones (December 17, 1819 – July 31, 1887) was a major general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. Early life Jones was born at "Woodfield", his parents' plantation in Powhatan County, Virginia.Jones, p. 5. He graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1841 and was brevetted as a second lieutenant in the 2nd Artillery Regiment. He was initially posted to Houlton, Maine, during a boundary dispute with Canada. He returned to West Point 1846–51, where he was assistant professor of mathematics and a tactics instructor. Immediately prior to the American Civil War he was on the staff of the Judge Advocate of the Army in Washington, D.C.Jones, p. 6. Civil War With the secession of Virginia in 1861, Jones was commissioned as a major in the state corps of artillery. He later joined the Provisional Confederate Army and served as chief of artillery and ordnance. He was promoted to colonel in recognition of his service, and on July 21, 1861, to brigadier general. He was promoted to major general on March 10, 1862.Eicher, p. 325. From December 4, 1862, until March 4, 1864, Jones commanded the Department of Western Virginia, with his headquarters at Dublin, Virginia. He was in general charge of the operations in defense of the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad and the vital salt mines. The September 1863 Battle of Blountsville was the initial step in a Union attempt to force Jones and his command to retire from East Tennessee. He then commanded the district of South Carolina until January 1865. When the Union Navy began shelling Charleston, South Carolina, Jones placed fifty captured Federal officers brought into town under guard. He then advised Union Maj. Gen. John G. Foster to stop the bombardment unless he wanted to risk killing his own men. An irate Foster retaliated by placing captured Confederates, including Brig. Gen. M. Jeff Thompson, directly in the line of fire from Jones's guns. In February 1865, Jones was named the commander of the Department of Florida and South Georgia, a post he held until the end of hostilities, when he surrendered at Tallahassee on May 10, 1865. Postbellum From 1873 to 1875, Jones served as president of the Maryland Agricultural College. Jones died in Bedford Springs, Virginia, and is buried in Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia. Notes References *Eicher, John H., and Eicher, David J., Civil War High Commands, Stanford University Press, 2001, ISBN 0-8047-3641-3. * *University of Maryland Timeline Category:People of Florida in the American Civil War Category:Confederate States Army generals Category:United States Army officers Category:People from Powhatan County, Virginia Category:United States Military Academy alumni Category:United States Military Academy faculty Category:1819 births Category:1887 deaths Category:Burials at Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond